Pakistanis blame 'foreign powers' for deadly Peshawar blast

Washington, Nov.7 : While the Pakistan government has blamed the banned terror outfits such as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda for the devastating car bomb blast in Peshawar’s Meena Bazaar, in which over 100 people were killed, many Pakistanis believe it was countries like the US, India and Israel which were the real enemies of the state and not the Islamist extremist organisations.

Pakistani religious parties such as the Jamaat-e-Islami is influencing people to believe that such attacks were the handiwork of ‘foreign powers’ and are fanning hostility in people’s heart against these countries, instead of working together with people to thwart the real challenge posed by the extremists.

“The more egregious the attack, the stronger seems the tendency to deny a domestic cause and blame other, more remote culprits. Some religious and political groups are encouraging such responses, eager to whip up xenophobic sentiment for their own ends,” a report in The Washington Post said.

During a recent ‘peace march’ organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami to condemn the Peshawar blast, which mostly killed women and children, people were seen shouting slogans against the US, CIA and the Pentagon, but strangely enough there was no mention of terror outfits such as the Taliban or Al-Qaeda.

“Muslims! Muslims! We are here to protest against those wrongdoers who work for India, Israel and the United States,” shouted a rally organizer through a bullhorn.

“We protest against American interference and against our government, which is handing over Pakistan to the foreigners and the unbelievers,” he added further.

People, who lost their near and dear ones in one of the biggest blasts Peshawar in the recent history, also rejected claims regarding the Taliban’s involvement in the incident.

“I am certain that the Taliban would never do this terrible thing. It must be the foreigners, who want to give a bad name to Islam,” the newspaper quoted Shah Zamin, who lost his brother in the brutal attack, as saying.

Amid all the denials there was ample evidence that the attackers had an Islamic fundamentalist agenda of keeping women in seclusion, the report said.

Shopkeepers in the Meena Bazaar area, who witnessed the massacre, said unsigned posters had appeared in the bazaar shortly before the bombing, warning them not to sell cosmetics or display female mannequins.

--ANI